Can anyone explain the etymology of “Out Of Left Field?” I always assumed it was a baseball expression, but one of my friends from the UK pressed me on it and wanted to know why coming from out of left field would have the connotations it has.
The only explanation I can come up with is, if the runner is going to first base, left field would be the farthest throw and therefore it would be unexpected that it would get there in time?
Nope. There are a ton of theories on where this expression came from, but nobody really knows.
That said, my pet theory has always revolved around the amount of activity one doesn’t see in Left Field relative to the rest of the Diamond. Given that the majority of hitters bat left handed, the majority of action seems to get pulled over into Right Field. The poor Left Fielder battles to stay awake–thus activity in Left Field is somewhat unexpected or “out of context” with the rest of the game. Likewise someone who seems daydreamy or out of touch is said to be “out in Left Field.”
That’s my take anyway…Oh, was that an official etymology you were after?
Inigo, you got it backwards - right field is the area that typically sees the least action, not left. Most right handed batters tend to pull the ball to left field.
Next theory?
There are lots of theories.
One is that in New York during Babe’s reign, the people who sat in the left-field bleachers were considered not as smart as the people who sat in right-field - in proximity to Ruth. So, if something didn’t make sense, it came out of leftfield, from the people who didn’t know enough to be in right field with the big star.
Another is that there used to be a mental institution behind the left field bleachers of Wrigley field in Chicago. So if it came out of left field, it came from the direction of the loonies.
Then there are theories that bring into account the sinister nature of left.
and …
What I’ve seen is Little League kids bat right handed if that’s their dominant hand, but by High School & beyond they’ve learned to bat lefty so as to be closer to 1st base…or something.
I have no idea what you’re talking about. Right handed kids bat on the left hand side of the plate and pull things to left.
That’s why Little League coaches but their spaciest kids in right field.
I see. By batting “right handed” I mean with the left shoulder facing the pitcher, and from the left side of the plate–the natural propensity for a right handed kid. We’re on the same page.
I’ll give you one guess what my position was in LL ball.
From Wordorigins
It lists out in left field as being origin unknown (but lists Neurotik’s theories)
Do the majority of players really bat left-handed nowadays? I know it’s been a while since I watched baseball regularly, but I seem to remember that most batter were right-handed, and batted thusly–so they would tend to pull the ball to left field, leaving the right outfielder with little to do (and, like Neurotik points out, the Little League coaches traditionally place the most hopelessly useless kid in the rightfield for that reason).
Maybe things have changed since I was a kid (most pitchers are–or used to be-- right-handed, too, so a left-handed batter always had an advantage when receiving a pitch).
Anyway, sometimes I’ve changed the phrase to “out of right field” to reflect the lack of activity there–but I know this has nothing to do with the origin of the phrase.
In other words, I’ve got nothing.
My take on it was always that if you were paying attention to what was going on in the diamond, then something that came out of left field was completely unexpected. It was as if the shortstop and second basemen were in the middle of a double play going down and when someone suddenly threw something in from the outfield.
No evidence, though.
RR
Inigo Montoya said: “Given that the majority of hitters bat left handed”
Of the 4,134 players who made their major league debuts between April 1974 and September 2003:
2,666 are listed as batting righty
1,078 are listed as batting lefty
390 are listed as switch-hitters
Sorry.
Have I mentioned the fact that I *am * an idiot?
That’s the one I hear as well, meaning “clueless”. Which again, doesn’t make sense since more hits to go left than to right.
Probably has to do with a historical bias to making “left” perjorative.
But “coming out of left field” doesn’t mean something that doesn’t make sense. It means something that comes from an unexpected source or direction.
When a runner runs from home to first base, he is facing almost completely away from left field, so a throw to the first baseman from somewhere in left field appears seemingly from nowhere over his left shoulder to the baseman in front of him.